Des Knaben Wunderhorn

During the Rhine journey of friends Achim von Arnim and Clemens Brentano in July 1802, the first ideas for the most significant collection of songs in German Romanticism emerged, which was published in several volumes from 1805 to 1808. The edition immediately attracted great attention. Above all, Arnim aimed to unite the torn nation through folk songs. By this, he meant, in the broadest sense, a creation of the whole people that remains untouched by historical development and has an almost eternal existence. Included were German poems, both anonymous and those by known authors, that were widespread among the population and were sung and spoken. To this day, many of the songs from the "Wunderhorn" are well-known, such as 'Bettelmanns Hochzeit', 'Guten Abend, gute Nacht', 'Da oben auf dem Berge', 'Bald gras' ich am Necker', 'Die Gedanken sind frei', and many others from the more than 700 texts.